A song for Kilkenny was released this week to coincide with the opening of the Ger Devane Family Room at St Luke's Hospital.
Popular local ballad group, The Kilkennys, who have a strong attachment to the Devane family, have re-released their original track Shine On Kilkenny which has become an All Ireland hurling anthem following its debut in the Irish charts last year. All the proceeds go towards the Ger Devane fund.
Guitarist and singer with The Kilkennys, Robbie Campion, is a nephew of the late Ger Devane, who passed away after a battle against cancer. Last year Robbie decided to use the band to help raise funds in the campaign for a dedicated room to help families of suffering patients to take time out during very stressful and emotional times.
Speaking to The Advertiser, Robbie said, "many of us, at some stage in our lives, are touched by a family member or close friend who are taken away by cancer. Ger was my uncle and going through the stages of his illness was an emotional time for his whole family. Using the band and the music we are passionate about is just my contribution to a campaign for something that will be of great benefit to other families and I'm thankful that my band mates joined me in that contribution."
"I suppose it's fitting to have the Family Room opened by the legendary Brian Cody and our single launched by hurler Cha Fitzpatrick because it's a positive song about Kilkenny and it's for the Kilkenny team also. The GAA has always been central to community and charity projects and this whole project was always about providing something positive," he said.
The single was launched this week in City Hall by Cha Fitzpatrick, Mayor Martin Brett and Cllr Andrew McGuinness and is now on sale in Heartbeat City. The song features the backing vocals of Kilkenny Gospel Choir who joined the band for a performance of the song on RTE’s Up For The Match show last year.
The Kilkennys have made a great impression on the international stage and are proud of the fact that they take the name of their beloved home city wherever they go. They recently headlined the Irish festival in Balve, Germany, where they perform every year and are currently finalising a UK and European tour to commence in February. So far the tour includes almost 30 dates across the UK from February until St Patrick’s Day when they will perform in Switzerland and move on to Ostrava in the Czech Republic and then into Poland and Germany.
When giving the band his stamp of approval for the release of their single, Mayor Brett, who is a big fan of the band, was delighted when he received a copy of the Kilkenny song and said he ‘would love to see them on stage at the homecoming again.’
In recent months The Kilkennys have built a huge online presence with over 5,500 fans on their Facebook page and almost 200,000 YouTube hits. Their new website www.thekilkennys.com is receiving huge traffic with visitors coming from all over the world. One page on the site titled ‘Kilkenny – Where we’re from’ is dedicated solely to promoting Kilkenny as a tourist destination.
Often hailed as Kilkenny’s musical ambassadors, the band has big plans in the pipe line for the next number of months so keep an eye on the Kilkenny Advertiser and their website for future announcements.
